Cutting implement

ABSTRACT

A cutting implement, such as a utility knife, comprises a sleeve-like handle member having a cavity portion with the handle member being open at the base and at one end through a longitudinal slot. A carrier member is pivotally mounted to the handle for pivotal movement into and out of the cavity with the carrier member being resiliently held within the cavity when it is pivotally moved into the cavity for substantially closing the cavity. The carrier has a plurality of studs at the end thereof opposite the pivotally mounted end which are adapted to support a perforated cutting blade having a top and bottom edge with at least one of the edges being a cutting edge. The carrier member includes an outer edge having a guide channel portion which is disposed on the carrier for protecting a portion of the cutting edge of the blade when the blade is supported on the studs, at least a portion of the cutting edge protruding through the longitudinal slot beyond the handle when the carrier is resiliently held in the handle, with the remaining portion of the cutting edge being within the guide channel. The carrier further includes a resilient clip portion adapted to store and resiliently fixedly hold perforated cutting blade replacements for the supported blade, with the resilient clip being pivotally insertable within the handle, both the carrier and the handle preferably being composed of metal, such as steel.

United States Patent Gringer Sept. 23, 1975 CUTTING IMPLEMENT with the handle member being open at the base and at [75] Inventor: Donald Gringer, Bedford NY. one end through a longitudlnal slot. A Cfll'llCl' member is pivotally mounted to the handle for pivotal move- Asslgneei Allway Tools Inc-, BrOn NY. ment into and out of the cavity with the carrier mem- [22] Filed: Oct 21 1974 her being resiliently held within the cavity when it is pivotally moved mto the cavity for substantially clos- PP 516,456 ing the cavity. The carrier has a plurality of studs at the end thereof opposite the pivotally mounted end 52 [1.5. Ci. 30/125; 30/331; 30/339 which adapted support a h chthhg [51] Int. Cl. B26B 5/00 blade havmg a top and bottom edge at least one 58 Field of Search 30/337, 339, 330, 331, 9 the edges heihg a cutting, edge T came h 30/125 includes an outer edge having a guide channel port1on which is disposed on the carrier for protecting a poru e n u a s r e c UNITED STATES PATENTS ting edge protruding through the longitudinal slot beg l g y 30/151 X yond the handle when the carrier is resiliently held in e on 3,604,113 9/1971 Cuscovitch 30/337 the handle wlth [he remammg porno" of the cumng Primary Examiner-Al Lawrence Smith Assistant Examiner-J. T. Zatarga Attorney, Agent, or FirmHubbell, Cohen, and Stiefel [57] ABSTRACT A cutting implement, such as a utility knife, comprises a sleeve-like handle member having a cavity portion edge being within the guide channel. The carrier further includes a resilient clip portion adapted to store and resiliently fixedly hold perforated cutting blade replacements for the supported blade, with the resilient clip being pivotally insertable within the handle, both the carrier and the handle preferably being composed of metal, such as steel.

8 Claims, 6 Drawing Figures CUTTING IMPLEMENT I BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION are well known, the combination of knife blade and handle being typically referred to as a utility knife. Generally, such prior art utility knives comprise the type where two separate complimentary halves are secured together by a nut and bolt, such as the type of utility knife manufactured by Stanley Model No. 299, or the type disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,376,887; 2,862,296; 2,948,961; 3,062,147; 3,107,426 or 3,192,624. Other prior art utility knives have been utilized which have a separate carrier member which pivots into and out of a handle, such as the type disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 2,245,096. However, such a prior art pivotal arrangement does not have any provision for storage of replacement blades nor is thereany provision for protecting a portion of the cutting edge. The previously mentioned type of prior art utility knives in which two separable halves are utilized provides for storage of replacement blades within the handle housing; however, there is no means for securing these blades within the housing and they rattle around in the knife during storage and often get dull before these blades have had an opportunity to be utilized. In addition, such prior art knives are usually formed of die cast housings with a screw to hold the handle together with the result that pressure on the blade during the cutting causes the two halves to have a tendency to separate and become a hazaed. In addition, in several of these prior art utility knives having separate halves, only a portion of the cutting edge protrudes beyond the housing, such as where such a cutting blade is reversable to use the remaining portion to cut when the protruding portion becomes dull. However, the reverse edge which remains in the housing has a tendency to bear against the metal of the housigng when pressure is applied to the cutting edge so that this unused edge is often dulled prior to reversal of the blade, Thus, prior art utility knives of which the applicant is presently aware are unsatisfactory in that they invariably require a tool of some sort, most typically, a screwdriver to gain access to the interior of the knife to take out replacement blades or to mount blades for cutting or, in the instance of the aforementioned prior art pivotal arrangement, replacement blades must be separately carried. The former is somewhat tedious and time consuming for the user as well as often resulting in dulled replacement blades from their rattling around within the housing during storage and the latter is somewhat inconvenient to the user. These disadvantages of the prior art are overcome by the present invention.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION A cutting implement is provided which comprises a sleeve-like handle member and a carrier member which is pivotally mounted to the handle member for pivotal movement into an out of a cavity portion within the handle, The cavity portion comprises a longitudinal slot with the handle being open at the base thereof through the slot and at one end of the slot. The carrier is pivotallymounted to the'handle at the other end thereof opposite from the open slotted end for pivotal movement into and out of the cavity with the carrier being resiliently held within the cavity when the carrier is pivotally moved into the cavity for substantially closing it. The carrier preferably has alongitudinal extent substantially equivalent to that of the longitudinal handle and has a plurality of studs at the end thereof opposite the pivotally mounted end adapted to support a perforated cutting blade. The cutting blade has a top edge and a bottom edge with at least one of the edges being a cutting edge. The carrier member opposite end has an inner edge completely pivotally insertable within the handle cavity longitudinal slot and an outer edge, with the outer edge having a guide channel portion and being disposed on the carrier for protecting a portion of the cutting edge of the cutting blade when the cutting blade is supported on the studs. The studs are disposed on the carrier for supporting the cutting blade in a first cutting position with at least a portion of the cutting edge protruding through the longitudinal slot beyond the handle member cavity when the cavity is substantially closed by the carrier pivotal movement into the cavity. The remaining portion of the cutting edge is disposed within the guide channel portion, and the handle member longitudinal slot portion together with the carrier member guide channel portion preferably form a protective housing for the cutting blade remaining portion to protect the cutting blade top and bottom edges in the first cutting position, whereby the remain ing portion of the cutting edge of the supported cutting blade is prevented from dulling in the first cutting position. The carrier is preferably formed with a resilient clip portion adapted to store and resiliently fixedly hold perforated cutting blade replacements for the supported cutting blade, the resilient portion being pivotally insertable within the handle when the cavity is sub stantially closed, whereby replacement blades are substantially prevented from movement during storage thereof in the cutting implement.

The perforated supported cutting blade is supportable on the studs in a plurality of cutting positions, at least a second of which comprises rotating the supported blade from its initial position to reversably support the blade on the studs with the previously exposed portion now being in the guide channel and the portion previously disposed in the guide channelnow being the protruding portion utilized for cutting, the cutting edge portion in the guide channel thereby being a reserve cutting edge for use in a second cutting position. The resilient clip portion which is utilized for fixedly holding the replacement blades in place during storage also further comprises. means for resiliently holding the carrier member within the cavity portion of the handle.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWING FIG. 1 is a side elevation view of the preferred cutting implement of thepresent invention shown in the closed position;

FIG.,2 is a plan view of the embodiment illustrated in FIG. 1;.

FIG. 3 is a front elevation, partially in section taken along line 3 3 of FIG. 1, of the embodiment illustrated in FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a side elevation of a typical preferred blade for use with the preferred cutting implement illustrated in FIG. 1;

FIG. 5 is a side elevation of the embodiment illustrated in FIG. 1 with the cutting implement in the open position;v and FIG. 6 is a plan view of the preferred blade carrier portion of the cutting implement shown in FIGS. 1 and 5.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Referring now to the drawings in detail and initially to FIGS. 1, 5 and 6, the preferred embodiment of the cutting implement of the present invention, which is generally referred to as a utility knife, generally referred to by the reference numeral 10, is shown. The cutting implement or utility knife 10, which is preferably completely composed of metal, such as steel, although other materials, if desired, such as plastics, could be utilized, apart from the cutting blade to be described in greater detail hereinafter, preferably consists of only two pieces, one piece being a sleeve-like handle 12 and the other piece being a blade carrier 14 which, as will be described in greater detail hereinafter, includes means for securely holding replacement blades as well as means for mounting the cutting blade in the knife 10. As shown and preferred in FIGS. 2 and 3, the handle 12 preferably is a hollow handle having a cavity portion 16 in which the braid carrier 14 can be situated when the knife 10 is in the closed position illustrated in FIG. 1, the carrier 14 substantially closing this cavity 16 in this position, as illustrated in FIG. 3. As shown and preferred in FIG. 2, the handle 12 cavity portion 16 preferably includes a longitudinal slot 16a towards the front of the handle which, as will be described in greater detail hereinafter, is the portion which prefera bly contains the cutting blade being utilized with the knife 10 in the closed position of FIGS. 1 and 3, and a tapered portion 16b which tapers outwardly from the longitudinal slot 16a toward the rear of the knife 10. As also shown and preferred in FIGS. 1, 2 and 5, the handle I2 is preferably secured to the blade carrier 14 by a dimpled self-hinge 18 located towards the rear of the knife 10 which provides a pivotal connection between the handle 12 and the blade carrier 14 so as to enable the blade carrier 14 to pivot into and out of the cavity portion 16 of the handle I2 between the closed position illustrated in FIG. 1 and the open position illustrated in FIG. 5. The dimpled self-hinge 18 is preferably a conventional type of connection and will not be described in greater detail hereina ter other than to say that it comprises a protrusion 18a on the interior of the handle 12 which nests in a congruent indentation 18a in the carrier blade 14, the dimpled self-hinge 18 preferably being formed by a pair of such nesting connections.

As shown and preferred in FIGS. 1, 2 and 5, the longitudinal extent of the blade carrier 14 is substantially equivalent to the longitudinal extent of the handle I2 and is nestable therein in the closed position, such as illustrated in FIG. 1 and FIG. 3, except for the guide channel 20 to be described in greater detail hereinafter, the handle 12 and carrier blade 14 in the closed position preferably forming a substantially continuous peripheral outline as illustrated in FIG. 1. Thus, as shown in FIG. 3, the blade carrier 14 preferably has the guide channel 20 at the base thereof, the guide channel 20 primarily being for protection of the portion of the cutting edge 24 of the cutting blade 22 which is not presently being utilized for cutting so as to prevent the reserve edge, which is what this portion is termed, from dulling against the handle. This cutting edge 24 reserve portion is thereby protected in the guide channel 20 and any tendency for the handle 12 and blade carrier 14 to separate during cutting when normal cutting pressure is applied, is thereby minimized. In addition, the cutting blade 22 is preferably wrapped around the top 26 and bottom, or in this instance cutting edge 24, in order to completely protect the reserve portion of the blade as well as to minimize any tendency of the handle 12 and blade carrier 14 to split apart.

As shown and preferred in FIG. 4, a typical cutting blade for use with the knife 10 of the present invention is shown, the blade 22 preferably being a conventional symmetrical blade having the cutting edge 24 at the bottom thereof and having mounting holes 30 and 32 and a mounting slot 34 within the interior of the blade 22 and semicircular notches 36, 38 and 40 in the top edge of the blade for mounting the blade 22 in a desired cutting position in the blade carrier 14, as illustrated in FIG. 1, the blade 22 therefore being termed a perforated cutting blade. The blade carrier 14, which preferably comprises an integral structure, preferably has a resilient clip portion 42 for holding replacement blades 44 identical with the blade illustrated in FIG. 4, by way of example, for the cutting blade being utilized. The resilient clip portion 42 may preferably be termed a self spring whose resiliency is sufficient to prevent these replacement or reserve blades from rattling while being fixedly resiliently held therein, such as illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 6. The replacement blades 44 are forceably inserted between the side portions 42a and 42b comprising the resilient clip 42 to spread these portions apart which resiliently spring back to resiliently fixedly hold the replacement blade or blades 44 between the side portions 42a and 42b of the resilient clip 42. Although only one such replacement blade 44 is illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 6, any desired number of replacement blades, determined by the resiliency of clip 42 and the physical dimensions of the blade and knife handle blade carrier cavity may be utilized and, most preferably, a plurality of such replacement blades are normally intended to be resiliently held within clip 42 for storage.

As shown and preferred in FIGS. 1 and 5, the front of the blade carrier 14 preferably includes a plurality of mounting studs, four such studs 50, 52, 54 and 56 being shown by way of example, which are preferably adapted to support the perforated cutting blade 22 thereon in any of the desired cutting positions, three such cutting positions being illustrated, by way of example, in FIG. I. As shown and preferred in FIG. I, the cutting blade 22 preferably has a rearward cutting position which is illustrated in solid lines in FIG. 1, a forward position which is illustrated in FIG. 1 by the dotted line 58, and a scraping position which is illustrated by the dotted line 60 in FIG. 1 which position 60 is with the blade orientated from the position illustrated in the solid lines in FIG. 1. As shown and preferred in FIG. 1 in both the rearward and forward position, the center aperture 34 and only one of the apertures 30 or 32 is utilized to mount the blade in position in conjunction with the corresponding vertically aligned notch 36, 38 and 40. Byway of example, in the rearward position illustrated in FIG. 1 by the solid lines, apertures 34 and 30 are utilized and are placed on mounting studs 56 and 54, respectively and with notches 38 and 36 being mounted onstuds52 and 50, respectively, to fix the blade 22 in position in the blade carrier 14, with the portion of the cutting edge 24 which did not protrude beyond the handle 12 being situated in the guide chan nel 20 of the blade carrier 14. Similarly, when the blade 22 is in the forward position 58 illustrated in FIG. 1, aperture 34 is located on stud 54, aperture 32 is located on stud 56 and slots 38 and 40 are located on studs 50 and 52, respectively. As shown and preferred in FIG. 1, in the scraping position 60, with the blade rotated 90 from the position illustrated in solid lines in FIG. 1, aperture 34 is mounted on stud 50, aperture 22 is mounted on stud 54 and apertures 38 and 40 are, respectively, mounted on studs 52 and 56. As also shown and preferred in FIG. 6, the blade carrier 14 substantially forms a hollow channel 60 so that with the knife in the closed position of FIG. 1, the base of the blade carrier 14 and the top of the handle 12 form the peripheral extents of a cavity which is defined between the base of the blade carrier 14 and the top of the handle 12.

As is also shown and preferred in FIGS. 5 and 6, the blade carrier 14 peripheral configuration is preferably arranged so that at at least one point on each side 62 and 64, respectively, resilient protrusions are present which assist in resiliently holding the blade carrier 14 within the handle 12 in the closed position of the knife 10. In addition, the longitudinal slot portion 16a of the knife 10 which is preferably narrow as compared to the blade 22 and the balance of the knife handle 12 preferably enable the user to line up the handle 12 with the blade 22 to cut a straight line. In addition, as is shown and preferred in FIG. 5, the outside of the guide channel of the blade carrier 14 preferably includes a protrusion 66 which provides a finger pull for assisting in applying finger pressure to the blade carrier 14, which, as was previously mentioned, is preferably resiliently held within the handle 12, to overcome this resilient force and pivot the knife 10 to the open position illustrated in FIG 5 so that the cutting blade 22 may be replaced by a replacement blade 44 from the resilient clip 42 storage or, if desired, so that the cutting position of the blade 22 may be changed, or, so that the cutting blade can be rotated 180 and remounted on the studs 50 through '56, inclusive, with thereserve cutting edge which was previously contained in the guide channel 20 now becoming the exposed cutting edge and the previously exposed cutting edge now resting in the guide channel 20. The previously mentioned resilient protrusions 62 and 64 are preferably located on the resilient clip portion 42 of the blade carrier 14.

By utilizing the cutting implement or utility knife of the present invention, dulling of replacement blades during storage is minimized as is dulling of the reserve edge of the cutting blade and, accordingly, a more efficient utility knife is provided.

What is claimed is:

1. A cutting implement comprising a sleeve-like handle member, said handle member having a cavity portion comprising a longitudinal slot, said handle member being open on the base thereof through said slot and at one end of said slot; and a carrier member pivotally mounted to said hollow sleeve-like handle member at the other end thereof opposite from said one end for blade having a top edge and a bottom edge with at least i one of said edges being a cutting edge,'said carrier member opposite end having an inner edge completely pivotally insertable within said handle member cavity portion longitudinal slot and an outer edge, said outer edge having a guide channel portion and being disposed on said carrier member for protecting a portion of the cutting edge of said cutting blade when said cutting blade is supported on said studs, said studs being disposed on said carrier member for supporting said cutting blade in a first cutting position with at least a portion of said cutting edge protruding through said longitudinal slot one end beyond said handle member cavity portion when said cavity portion is substantially closed by said carrier member pivotal movement into said cavity portion and with the remaining portion of said cutting edge being within said guide channel por tion, said handle member longitudinal slot portion together with said carrier member guide channel portion forming a protective housing for said cutting blade remaining portion to protect said cutting blade top and bottom edges in said first cutting position; said carrier member further being formed with a resilient clip portion adapted to store and resiliently fixedly hold perforated cutting blade replacements for said supported cutting blade, said resilient clip portion also being pivotally insertable within said handle member when said cavity portion is substantially closed, whereby replacement blades are substantially prevented from movement during storage thereof in: said cutting implement and the remaining portion of said cutting edge of said supported cutting blade is substantially prevented from dulling in said first cutting position.

2. A cutting implement in accordance with claim 1 wherein said perforated supported cutting blade is supportable on said studs in a plurality of cutting positions, at least a second of said cutting positions comprising rotating said first position supported blade from said first cutting position for reversibly supporting said blade on said studs with said cutting edge remaining portion becoming said protruding portion and said first position cutting edge protruding portion being within said carrier member guide channel portion in said second cutting position, whereby said cutting edge remaining portion within said guide channel portion in said first cutting position comprises a reserve cutting edge for use in said second cutting position.

3. A cutting implement in accordance with claim I wherein said handle member and said carrier member are composed of metal.

4. A cutting implement in accordance with claim 3 wherein said metal is steel.

5. A cutting implement in accordance with claim 1 wherein said carrier member is pivotally mounted to said handle member by a hollow dimpled self hinge means, said self hinge means comprising a pair of hollow dimple protrusions disposed within the interior of said cavity portion in said handle member at said other end which is insertable within the cavities formed by a substantially congruent pair of hollow dimple protrusions on the sides of said carrier member at said other end for enabling said pivotal movement.

6. A cutting implement in accordance with claim 1 wherein said cavity portion further comprises a tapered longitudinally extending cavity portion tapering outwardly towards said handle member other end from a narrow portion at said one end and being in communication with said slot at said narrow portion, said narrow portion being determined by said slot.

7. A cutting implement in accordance with claim I 0 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE CERTIFICATE OF CORRECTION Patent 3,906,625 Dated September 23, 1975 O' lnventofls) Donald Gringer It is certified that error appears in the above-identified patent and that said Letters Patent are hereby corrected as shown below:

Q I l Column 1, line 37 "hazaed" should read hazard line 44: "housigng" should read housing line 65:

0 "into an out" should read into and out Column 5, line 27: "at at" should read at Signed and Scaled this Seventh D f Se tember 1976 [SEAL] y p Arrest:

@ RUTII C. MA SON C. MARSHALL DANN Arresting Off?! Commissioner nflatenrs and Trademarks 

1. A cutting implement comprising a sleeve-like handle member, said handle member having a cavity portion comprising a longitudinal slot, said handle member being open on the base thereof through said slot and at one end of said slot; and a carrier member pivotally mounted to said hollow sleeve-like handle member at the other end thereof opposite from said one end for pivotal movement into and out of said cavity portion, said carrier member resiliently holding within said cavity portion when said carrier member is pivotally moved into said cavity portion for substantially closing said cavity portion; said carrier member having a longitudinal extent substantially equivalent to said handle member longitudinal extent and having a plurality of studs at the end thereof opposite said pivotally mounted end adapted to support a perforated cutting blade having a top edge and a bottom edge with at least one of said edges being a cutting edge, said carrier member opposite end having an inner edge completely pivotally insertable within said handle member cavity portion longitudinal slot and an outer edge, said outer edge having a guide channel portion and being disposed on said carrier member for protecting a portion of the cutting edge of said cutting blade when said cutting blade is supported on said studs, said studs being disposed on said carrier member for supporting said cutting blade in a first cutting position with at least a portion of said cutting edge protruding through said longitudinal slot one end beyond said handle member cavity portion when said cavity portion is substantially closed by said carrier member pivotal movement into said cavity portion and with the remaining portion of said cutting edge being within said guide channel portion, said handle member longitudinal slot portion together with said carrier member guide channel portion forming a protective housing for said cutting blade remaining portion to protect said cutting blade top and bottom edges in said first cutting position; said carrier member further being formed with a resilient clip portion adapted to store and resiliently fixedly hold perforated cutting blade replacements for said supported cutting blade, said resilient clip portion also being pivotally insertable within said handle member when said cavity portion is substantially closed, whereby replacement blades are substantially prevented from movement during storage thereof in said cutting implement and the remaining portion of said cutting edge of said supported cutting blade is substantially prevented from dulling in said first cutting position.
 2. A cutting implement in accordance with claim 1 wherein said perforated supported cutting blade is supportable on said studs in a plurality of cutting positions, at least a second of said cutting positions comprising rotating said first position supported blade 180* from said first cutting position for reversibly supporting said blade on said studs with said cutting edge remaining portion becoming said protruding portion and said first position cutting edge protruding portion being within said carrier member guide channel portion in said second cutting position, whereby said cutting edge remaining portion within said guide channel portion in said first cutting position comprises a reserve cutting edge for use in said second cutting position.
 3. A cutting implement in accordance with claim 1 wherein said handle member and said carrier member are composed of metal.
 4. A cutting implement in accordance with claim 3 wherein said metal is steel.
 5. A cutting implement in accordance with claim 1 wherein said carrier member is pivotally mounted to said handle member by a hollow dimpled self hinge means, said self hinge means comprising a pair of hollow dimple protrusions disposed within the interior of said cavity portion in said handle member at said other end which is insertable within the cavities formed by a substantially congruent pair of hollow dimple protrusions on the sides of said carrier member at said other end for enabling said pivotal movement.
 6. A cutting implement in accordance with claim 1 wherein said cavity portion further comprises a tapered longitudinally extending cavity portion tapering outwardly towards said handle member other end from a narrow portion at said one end and being in communication with said slot at said narrow portion, said narrow portion being determined by said slot.
 7. A cutting implement in accordance with claim 1 wherein said channel guide portion further comprises a finger pull protrusion extending outside said cavity portion when said carrier member is pivotally inserted therein for facilitating pivotal movement of said pivotally inserted carrier member out of said handle member cavity portion.
 8. A cutting implement in accordance with claim 1 wherein said resilient clip portion further comprises means for resiliently holding said carrier member within said cavity portion. 